1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of pole stands. More specifically, the present invention relates to umbrella stands that allow umbrellas and even flags, signs, and any other standard poles that need to be anchored into the ground, sand, or any other penetrable surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beach Umbrellas are becoming necessary accessories at beaches, parks, and other places where the effects of the sun can severely burn both young and old. However, Umbrellas and the like are often difficult to make stand in soft ground or sand, or against winds that easily pull them down once they are set up. Furthermore, finding ways to anchor these stands onto the ground easy for both strong and weak has been difficult since ensuring they are properly grounded requires some strength.
Umbrella stands come in several types with those most relevant for this application being surface or sub-surface stands that either weight or anchor the pole on or in the ground.
Surface pole stands usually comprise a weighted apparatus with a means for holding a standard pole. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,455 to Robert J. Oliver; U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,406 to Janice Stine and Karen Solari; or U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,930 to Jun Li) After ballast is provided in the weighted apparatus, it then rests on the ground or sand into which the pole is securely positioned.
In addition to surface there are also sub-surface stands in the class of the present invention. These types of stands use an existing landscape to leverage the stand and umbrella in the ground instead of a separate weighted ballast apparatus. The advantage of this type of stand is obvious in that one does not have to carry a large—even if empty—apparatus used for ballasting the umbrella in its stand to the beach.
The other option are sub-surface stands, which are common for use in many different types of activities such as fishing, (See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,446 to James Williams or U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,465 to Freddie Stoner) multi-purpose activities, (See, U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,985 to Douglas Cantrell) flags, (See, pending U.S. application 2004/0169121 A1 to Anthony Winn) and, of course, umbrellas. (See. U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,172 and Application 2001/0048060 to Donald Brumfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,978 to Arturo Rodriguez, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,304 to Alexander Margolis).
How sub-surface stands are anchored into the ground. Most either requires a downward force directed onto the umbrella stand or require a person to step onto a plane attached to the stand forcing the stand into the ground. One invention, similar to the present invention, has a folding clamp permanently coupled to the pole stand that clamps around the pole in its clamped position and when unfolded, creates a horizontal lever allowing someone to turn the lever and screw the pole into the ground. (U.S. application 2004/0169121 A1 to Anthony Winn) However, there are a few problems with the Winn stand. The first is that if the stand needs to be placed on an inclined angle, the extended clamp is fixed and it can be difficult and most times impossible to screw the stand into the ground because the handle portion of the clamp will be wedged against the side of the incline. Second, because poles come in various shapes and sizes, the Winn stand clamps only around poles of a definite diameter. If a pole is too large, as many wooden poles are, the clamp will not fit around it.
Lastly, umbrella stands are impulse items that normally cost under $20. They should be inexpensive to manufacture; effective in their purpose; light and easy to use; durable; avoid the use of complicated mechanisms easily ruined by sand and other natural elements; and portable. In devices such as this, the fewer components the better so that the overall item costs less and because the nature of these devices are such that they are in and around sand, water, and other natural elements that easily corrode and destroy. The Winn stand does not avoid these problems.
None of the above-mentioned references—save the present invention—achieves all of the preceding criteria.